Generation
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
generation
n 1: all the people living at the same time or of approximately
the same age [syn: {coevals}, {contemporaries},
{generation}]
2: group of genetically related organisms constituting a single
step in the line of descent
3: the normal time between successive generations; "they had to
wait a generation for that prejudice to fade"
4: a stage of technological development or innovation; "the
third generation of computers"
5: a coming into being [syn: {genesis}, {generation}]
6: the production of heat or electricity; "dams were built for
the generation of electricity"
7: the act of producing offspring or multiplying by such
production [syn: {generation}, {multiplication},
{propagation}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Generation \Gen`er*a"tion\, n. [OE. generacioun, F.
g['e]n['e]ration, fr.L. generatio.]
1. The act of generating or begetting; procreation, as of
animals.
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2. Origination by some process, mathematical, chemical, or
vital; production; formation; as, the generation of
sounds, of gases, of curves, etc.
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3. That which is generated or brought forth; progeny;
offspiring.
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4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural
descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of
those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from
an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period;
also, the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period
of time at which one rank follows another, or father is
succeeded by child, usually assumed to be one third of a
century; an age.
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This is the book of the generations of Adam. --Gen.
v. 1.
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Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and
for a long season, namely, seven generations.
--Baruch vi.
3.
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All generations and ages of the Christian church.
--Hooker.
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5. Race; kind; family; breed; stock.
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Thy mother's of my generation; what's she, if I be a
dog? --Shak.
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6. (Geom.) The formation or production of any geometrical
magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion,
in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a
magnitude; as, the generation of a line or curve by the
motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a
semicircle, etc.
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7. (Biol.) The aggregate of the functions and phenomene which
attend reproduction.
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Note: There are four modes of generation in the animal
kingdom: scissiparity or by fissiparous generation,
gemmiparity or by budding, germiparity or by germs, and
oviparity or by ova.
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{Alternate generation} (Biol.), alternation of sexual with
asexual generation, in which the products of one process
differ from those of the other, -- a form of reproduction
common both to animal and vegetable organisms. In the
simplest form, the organism arising from sexual generation
produces offspiring unlike itself, agamogenetically.
These, however, in time acquire reproductive organs, and
from their impregnated germs the original parent form is
reproduced. In more complicated cases, the first series of
organisms produced agamogenetically may give rise to
others by a like process, and these in turn to still other
generations. Ultimately, however, a generation is formed
which develops sexual organs, and the original form is
reproduced.
{Spontaneous generation} (Biol.), the fancied production of
living organisms without previously existing parents from
inorganic matter, or from decomposing organic matter, a
notion which at one time had many supporters; abiogenesis.
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from
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Generation
Gen. 2:4, "These are the generations," means the "history." 5:1,
"The book of the generations," means a family register, or
history of Adam. 37:2, "The generations of Jacob" = the history
of Jacob and his descendants. 7:1, "In this generation" = in
this age. Ps. 49:19, "The generation of his fathers" = the
dwelling of his fathers, i.e., the grave. Ps. 73:15, "The
generation of thy children" = the contemporary race. Isa. 53:8,
"Who shall declare his generation?" = His manner of life who
shall declare? or rather = His race, posterity, shall be so
numerous that no one shall be able to declare it.
In Matt. 1:17, the word means a succession or series of
persons from the same stock. Matt. 3:7, "Generation of vipers" =
brood of vipers. 24:34, "This generation" = the persons then
living contemporary with Christ. 1 Pet. 2:9, "A chosen
generation" = a chosen people.
The Hebrews seem to have reckoned time by the generation. In
the time of Abraham a generation was an hundred years, thus:
Gen. 15:16, "In the fourth generation" = in four hundred years
(comp. verse 13 and Ex. 12:40). In Deut. 1:35 and 2:14 a
generation is a period of thirty-eight years.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
83 Moby Thesaurus words for "generation":
Platonic year, abiogenesis, aeon, age, age group, annus magnus,
archigenesis, authorship, begetting, beginning, biogenesis, birth,
blastogenesis, breeding, coinage, conception, concoction,
contrivance, contriving, creation, creative effort, crop,
crossbreeding, cycle, cycle of indiction, date, day, days,
development, devising, digenesis, dissogeny, endogamy,
engenderment, epigenesis, epoch, era, establishment, eumerogenesis,
fabrication, fathering, formation, formulation, genesis,
great year, hatching, heterogenesis, histogenesis, homogenesis,
improvisation, inbreeding, inception, indiction, initiation,
institution, invention, isogenesis, life, lifetime, linebreeding,
making do, merogenesis, metagenesis, mintage, monogenesis,
multiplication, origination, orthogenesis, outbreeding, pangenesis,
parthenogenesis, period, period of existence, procreation,
production, proliferation, propagation, reproduction,
spontaneous generation, start, time, times, xenogamy
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